Six weeks after Dellen Millard, the man charged in the murder of Tim Bosma, transferred three properties to his mother for $1 each, one house has been sold and a condo is up for sale, the Star has learned.

Madeleine Burns, Millard’s mother, sold her son’s childhood home in Etobicoke for $1.2 million on July 4, according to property records. A condominium in the Distillery District that Millard bought for $627,524 on May 7, the day after Bosma went missing, is listed for $719,000.

On May 17, Millard transferred three properties to Burns, just days after his arrest in the murder of the Hamilton man. Eight legal experts reviewed the transfer documents for the Star and all said it raised concerns about Millard’s intentions, saying the timing of the property dump was “highly unusual” and poses serious legal questions.

“There is nothing nefarious about these real estate deals,” responded Deepak Paradkar, Millard’s criminal lawyer. “He’s not afraid of civil action and he’s not trying to liquidate or hide his assets.”

Protecting his assets from future lawsuits was among the potential motivations, lawyers told the Star in May, and reiterated by two lawyers Friday.

“One (reason) may have been to make life easier dealing with those properties,” said David Ullman, a partner at Minden Gross who specializes in issues involving creditors — including finding hidden assets.

Or it could be “part of a plan to make assets less available to creditors,” he added.

When Burns took title of Millard’s three properties, they were placed in trust and she became the appointed trustee. It’s unclear whether Millard maintained beneficial ownership, as trust documents are not public. Paradkar wouldn’t identify the beneficiary of the trust.

“It’s fishy to the extent (the properties) were transferred,” said Andrew Fortis, a real estate lawyer with Hummingbird Lawyers. “The question becomes: what do they need the money for? If he’s using it for his legal defence, that makes complete sense.”

Legal experts told the Star in May that there may be a case to be made against Millard under the provincial Fraudulent Conveyances Act.

The act clearly states that the transfer of property to “defeat, hinder, delay or defraud creditors or others of their just and lawful actions” — including suits or damages — is void if not done in “good faith” or with knowledge of such action against them.

Protecting assets is easier once those assets become cash, Ullman said.

“So the typical example is you have a house, you sell it and you turn it into money and you invest that money in a bunch of stocks you already own. Then you sell all of those stocks, then you buy something else, and slowly but surely it becomes more difficult to say, ‘That’s the money I had an interest in.’”

The house Burns sold on Maple Gate Court is where Millard grew up. It has been in the family for three generations. It’s also the home where Millard’s father, Wayne, apparently killed himself last November. That case was reopened by Toronto police after Millard was arrested in connection with Bosma’s death.

Paradkar said Millard had been thinking about selling the house since his father’s death, and well before his arrest in May. He also said Millard always intended to flip the condo in the Distillery District, but his arrest expedited both transactions.

The home was host to pool parties with Millard’s schoolmates, and a bevy of cats and dogs lived there throughout the years, friends and family said.

When the Star visited the home, which backs onto a golf course, in May following a police investigation, it was a mess, with clothing, documents and cans of soup strewn throughout. The only thing moving was a black cat.

Millard still owns three other properties the Star is aware of: the farm in Ayr where Bosma’s charred remains were found; a rental property on Riverside Dr. in Toronto; and a condo in Vaughan.